CERRITOS – The La Mirada High softball team had a decisive edge in maturity over Cerritos on Tuesday afternoon in a matchup of CIF Southern Section Division II Top 10 teams.

And that experience certainly played a role in the 3-1, 11-inning victory that gave the Suburban League championship back to the No. 8 Matadores. Ironically, though, it was La Mirada’s youngest player who had the most impact.

Freshman pitcher Valerie Alvarado allowed five hits and two walks in 8 2/3 shutout innings of relief, picking up the Matadores’ biggest win of the season. She struck out 16 of the 34 batters she faced.

“She’s our secret weapon,” La Mirada coach Rich Trujillo said of Alvarado, who has come on strong in recent weeks to lead the Matadores’ surge to regain the league title – which they lost last year after a 10-year run – and into the CIF-SS playoffs.

Teams haven’t really had a chance to scout Alvarado, who has a nice fastball and a riser that certainly gave the No. 7 Dons (18-5, 9-2) trouble, but Trujillo doesn’t think it would have mattered much.

“Whether you’ve seen her or not, they can’t hit her,” he said.

Alvarado checked in with one out in the bottom of the third after starter Amber Hickman gave up the Dons’ only run of the game, a line drive to left field by Jennifer Iseri that plated Sarah Smith (3 for 5), who had doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

The hard-throwing frosh got a strikeout for the second out of the inning before allowing an infield single that loaded the bases. No problem, as she struck out Erin Clinton to end the Cerritos threat, leaving the score knotted at 1-1.

Alvarado struck out two more in the fourth, two more in the fifth and two more in the sixth before getting all three on strikes in the seventh. She also struck out all three batters she faced in the ninth.

Cerritos coach Bob Medina felt that his team – with three freshman, one sophomore, three juniors and two seniors in the starting lineup – didn’t have a mature approach at the plate.

“We weren’t disciplined at the plate,” he said. “We couldn’t lay off the high pitches. We just swung at it, swung at the high stuff.”

That said, the Dons had plenty of chances to end the game before the 11th. After leaving the bases loaded in the third, they had runners in scoring position in the fourth, seventh, eighth and 10th, but failed to come through with a key hit.

“We didn’t execute,” said Medina, whose team helped break up La Mirada’s title run last season and shared the crown with Mayfair. “We had plenty of opportunities.”

That left the door open for the Matadores (20-7, 11-0) to win it in the 11th.

Mercedes Gasparovic reached base on an error to start the inning and was moved to third on a single by Rochelle Sablay and a sacrifice bunt by Lindsey Cole. The next batter, Becca Rice, hit a ball foul down the right-field line that Avila caught but probably shouldn’t have, allowing Gasparovic to tag up from third and score the go-ahead run. Another error allowed Sablay to score, giving the Matadores a 3-1 lead.

Alvarado got the Dons in order to close out the game.

“We have seen the biggest, baddest and ugliest. We have played the best of them,” said Trujillo of the experience the schedule has afforded his team this year. “It was a good win, and we are going to celebrate, have some fun and go into CIF and see what happens.”

Iseri – also a freshman – was nearly as effective as Alvarado, allowing eight hits, five walks in a full 11 frames in the circle for Cerritos. She struck out seven.

However, maybe a little nervousness cost her and the Dons in the top of the first. She gave up four walks and Gasparovic’s RBI single scored Mylee Macahilig to put La Mirada ahead 1-0.

“That was a game-changer,” Medina said, figuring his team would have won 1-0 without the fateful first inning.

The two teams will close the regular season with a rematch at La Mirada on Thursday. Cerritos needs a win to take second place.

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